Happily Ever After
by WishIHadATimeTurner
Summary: It's really all anyone wants. Liv, the fraternal twin of Bella Swan Cullen, came close to it but then everything went wrong and now she's back in Forks pulling her life together, raising her 2 year old daughter Cheyenne. Things take an even more unexpected (and often amusing) turn when she becomes an imprint and is thrown into a world she only halfway believes in. JACOB X OC FIC
1. Chapter 1

ONE

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"My sister and her husband are nuts for not living here. It's beautiful, I mean it's like something right out of a fairytale." were probably the very first words that fell from my lips as I pulled my car to a stop in front of the little stone cottage and just gawked at it a few moments. This was.. It was too much, that's what it was. After the initial shock and awe at the house my sister was just giving away to me, my first action was to pick up my cell phone and call her.

"Well?" she asked as she answered the phone.

"Well what? I can't live here.. Why the hell are you guys not living here?" the questions came rapid fire and I got out of my car after shutting off the engine. I leaned against the hood, looking up at the darkening sky, the strawberry colored moon, just marveling at the sky here and how much clearer it was than even the Florida skyline from the beach at night.

"Because we couldn't. And Esme went to all the trouble to build it, just for us. I felt like it needed to be used, lived in. And you've got that internship at the hospital and the job at the clinic. Plus there's Cheyenne." Bella stated, her voice sounded almost like the tinkling of bells for some reason. For a few moments, my brow quirked upward as I nibbled my lower lip and considered what she seemed to be offering.

The house was private and secluded, but it was only five minutes away from Dad if he needed anything or we needed him.

It was only ten minutes away from town and my jobs and the school Cheyenne would eventually be attending when she got older. I mean she's just two now, but you have to take everything into consideration when you're basically moving a kid across country.

The reason for my move came to mind and I sighed quietly, thoughts of Caleb filling my mind, making me wonder what I'd be doing right now if he hadn't.. I couldn't even finish the thought. He'd died almost a half a year ago now but the pain still felt so vivid and so fresh that some days I didn't even want to get out of bed and face the day.

Cheyenne kept me going on those days. Cheyenne and hope.. Blind and stupid hope that maybe one day my life would finally be alright again. That maybe one day everything wouldn't hurt quite as badly. I peeked through the passenger side window at my little blonde haired girl and smiled a little, my fingers rested against the glass in the window a few moments. I tapped my fingers impatiently, Bella needed a decision now..

Would I be living in the cottage she'd left behind when she and Edward left town with my niece Renesmee or would I be rooming at Charlie's house. He's dating Sue right now, they're sort of living together, it's hardly fair of me to move back in and sort of keep them from getting closer.

I didn't want to be a problem or be in the way.. And I wanted to be alone. I didn't want to constantly feel like I had to be okay, I wanted the freedom to just be able to fall apart, to cry myself to sleep.

"Well?" my fraternal twin asked, slightly impatient, a little more than concerned.

"Okay, alright. But this is just until I get money saved and find a place of my own, Bells.. You know how I feel about stuff like this, and you guys never even lived in it.. It's.. It's amazing." I gushed and then fell silent.

"It's better, you know.. The way things worked out. Forks is a better place to raise a kid.. I mean a normal one." Bella said. I heard her voice cracking a little and I realized that yes, it must have been hard for her to just move, leave this place behind.

And now she was basically giving the place over to me.

A few minutes passed awkwardly between us and the phone was snatched away by Bella's sister in law Alice. I smiled a little as I looked over at Cheyenne and quietly opened the door, got her out of the car. "Wake up, baby girl.. Aunt Alice wants to talk to you."

"Mama." my daughter fussed, she looked up at me with those big brown eyes, a pout forming on her little heart shaped lips and finally, she took the phone, listening for a few minutes, giggling about something as she looked up at me, tangled a ringlet of my brownish blonde hair around her fingertip.

"You talks." she said finally and I took the phone back, asked Alice, "Okay, what was that all about?"

"Nothing.. I was just telling Cheyenne about a special surprise."

"A special surprise, huh? This wouldn't be you insisting you see the future again, right?" I asked, laughing a little.. My sister, when she married Edward.. She married into a really, really strange family situation. And now that she's the same as the Cullens, her in laws, it's a little weird for me, it's been an adjustment, I'll say that much and leave it alone.

"You know I can, Liv.. I just.. I wish I'd been able to see that night, to warn you guys." she said quietly. I sighed and then muttered quickly, "It's not your fault.. I mean you didn't ask to be able to see the future.. And it's a gift, not a normal sense.. I mean it's not like you can just make it happen at will."

"But if I could have."

"But you can't. If what you can do is even scientifically possible to begin with. It was my fault, I had a bad feeling and I let him leave and go to the station that night." I admitted, nodding my head.. yep, that's pretty much how it went. If I'd stopped him from rushing off in the middle of the night to meet that emergency call, he'd never have wrecked on the way there.

My fingers trailed slowly across my forehead and I paced the cobblestone pathway leading to the front door a few moments, looking back at the house, quietly wondering just how good this new start was going to be for my daughter and I.

My dad was all for it.

So were my mom and my sister and her family.

I just... I feel like I should've been tougher, you know? Like I should have stayed in Florida, kept trudging through the grief and anger and depression, learned to cope with there being a memory of him every single time I did something or went somewhere.

But my father made a good point when the subject came up during me and Cheyenne's last visit.. I can't be the best mom to my girl if I'm always sad or hurting. And living in the past is only going to destroy whatever future might actually lie ahead for my daughter and I.

He also used the classic line, "Caleb wouldn't want you unhappy." despite the fact that he and Caleb only met a handful of times before Caleb died.

On cue, my phone started to ring again and I pulled it back out of my jacket pocket, answered. As soon as Cheyenne heard her grandpa's voice on the other end of the line, she started to chatter and giggle, reach for the phone. I laughed at her and then said "Hold on, Dad.. Someone really wants to talk to you."

I held the phone up to Cheyenne's ear and let her talk to my father, smiled to myself. At least Cheyenne has me and she has the rest of her family. I can't give her her father back, but I can fix things so that she grows up surrounded by the people we both love, that's just as good and I think that maybe it's what Caleb would have wanted us to do.

A shooting star made it's way across the sky and I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, made my silent wish.. I just want everything to be okay again. I just want things to finally fall into place for my daughter and I. I wished for this whole second chance of ours to be the best thing that ever happened to both of us.

And at the time, I just sort of laughed at myself because only kids make wishes on shooting stars.

"Star! Look Mama!" Cheyenne said as she pointed upward.

Charlie laughed and then asked, "So.. You two made it in okay?" as I worked on unlocking the door to the cottage. I stepped into the living space and gasped audibly. My father asked quickly, "Is something wrong?"

"No.. I was just.. I mean the house was amazing on the outside.. The inside is.. It's amazing too." I said as my eyes darted around, taking in stone walls, eclectic and strange furniture combinations, the overall coziness of the cottage my sister and Edward for some strange reason never chose to live in.

Then again, it's like I said before.. My sister's always been a bit weird and she definitely married into a weird family. So maybe her not living in the cottage and raising Renesmee here shouldn't surprise me.

"Yeah. I've seen it. But nothing's wrong, right?"

"No, Dad, everything is fine.. I'm going to bring in me and Cheyenne's clothes and stuff and then lock the cottage and come over. We did promise we'd come over and eat with you before we crashed for the night."

"You did. And Sue cooked a lot of stuff. More than just the four of us can eat. Leah and Seth are here, Billy said he might come by and eat too. I think the guy's lonely, I mean Paul and Rachel moved to Seattle, he hasn't seen Jake in a while either because Jake went to Canada."

I nodded. I barely remembered Jacob, in all honesty. I mean he used to come over and play with me and Bella when we were here on visits with Dad. But then the visits stopped and Dad started coming to us instead, so.. Things were a little fuzzy when my dad started naming names off like that.

"Okay, well, I'm going to hang up. We'll see you in a few. Love you." I said as I moved around the tiny cottage, flipping on lights as I went, bathing the rooms in light. Everything was almost immaculate. I peeked into one of the closed rooms, saw a nursery full of white wicker and wooden baby furniture, the walls were painted a pale sky blue, the floor was light hardwood.

After I got the few boxed and bags that fit into my trunk into the cottage, I locked up and started to drive over to my father's house, pulling into the curb and getting out, going around to get out Cheyenne.

The howl came from nearby, it was so close that for a moment I could've sworn I saw the silhouette of a wolf among the bushes and brush at the edge of Dad's backyard. I shrugged it off, but this strange tingle ran slowly down my spine as I looked around, blinked and tried to focus on where I'd thought I saw the silhouette a few moments before.

There was nothing there.

"Must have been my imagination." I explained the phenomenon away mentally as I locked the car, walked up the concrete foot path and into my father's house. Before I could even say anything, my father was squeezing Cheyenne and I almost in a bear hug. Sue, my father's girlfriend laughed and teased playfully, "You're squeezing them purple, Charlie."

He took Cheyenne from me and walked into the kitchen, the two of them snuck a spoon full of the banana pudding that sat on the counter almost half gone and he laughed as Cheyenne proceeded to get the food all over both him and herself.

"She's probably pretty hungry. I fed her about an hour ago, but she's been napping on and off since. She's always hungrier when she first wakes up."

"So were you.. So.. How was the trip?"

"I got to do a lot of sight seeing, actually. And Cheyenne loved it, especially when we passed fields with horses grazing in them." I said as I sat down in one of the chairs around the kitchen table.

The door was knocked on again and Charlie went to open it, Cheyenne still in his arms. A few moments later, Billy Black rolled into the dining room, grumbling with my dad about a baseball game he'd been watching after taking Cheyenne from my dad and making a few cooing noises at her, looking over at me.

"This is Pixiedust?"

"That is Pixiedust." My father said as he smiled at me and laughed at the nickname Billy had given me when I was probably around my own child's age because of my thing for the movie Peter Pan and the fairies in it.

"Wow.. And now, my man..I really do feel old."

"Oh you are, Billy.. You're ancient." Charlie joked as he looked at me and smiled then said "Liv is going to be our doctor."

"Nurse, dad. I wanted to go for surgeon, I sort of didn't.. I realized just how squeamish I get when dealing with a lot of blood and things like that." I answered, smiled at Billy and shrugged as I fixed myself and Cheyenne a plate. She usually eats off my plate since she's started eating adult food.

"It's nice to see you again, kid." Billy mused as all of us started eating, joined a few moments later by Seth and Leah, Sue's own children. I realized that I sort of remembered Seth, he used to come over and play as much as Jacob did when we were all kids and Leah and I talked a little bit, talking about our jobs and pretty much anything.

About halfway through the meal, the wolf howled outside, it was farther off this time. The same slow thrilling tingle ran down my spine, but I put it out of my head.

"Wolves are really out tonight, huh Billy?" Charlie asked, the two of them exchanging looks for a moment as Billy nodded and said with a shrug, "Yeah.. Every now and then it's noisy like tonight."

My ears perked at hearing this.. I lived in a cottage in the middle of the woods.. Was I going to wake up to a wolf in my back yard or something? I was a little worried, but my father said quietly, "They never really come close to town though.. Or out around your place. Billy and I went to check on that earlier this week."

"Oh.. Okay, that's good. I mean I was sort of worried for a few minutes there." I admitted as I took a big bite of the steak on my plate, fed a little mashed up baked potato to Cheyenne who made a little bit of a face but swallowed her food.

About an hour later, after Cheyenne had fallen asleep in Seth's lap while Seth was playing some game on a console hooked to my dad's television, I went back home to the cottage, exhausted by the trip I'd just made.

I'd just gotten Cheyenne settled into the little canopy toddler bed in the nursery when I heard the wolf howl again, closer to the back of the cottage this time. " It's nothing.. They hardly ever come close to the houses, Dad said so earlier."

As I walked past a window in the kitchen however, I was almost certain that I saw the silhouette of a wolf sitting on it's haunches on the cobblestones that formed a patio just outside the sliding French doors that led to the back of the cottage.

I stood frozen for a moment, hand wound tightly in my long brownish blonde hair, stared out into the backyard. The silhouette was gone again, or had I imagined it to begin with?

Somehow I sensed that if I had seen a wolf, they weren't there to eat me. That maybe the wolf was just curious, after all, this house had stood empty for a few years now and nobody had ever lived in it before then either, not even Bella and Edward.

I walked into my bedroom at the end of the hall and fell back across my bed, looked up at the white wooden planks that made up the ceiling and for a while, I watched the fan spinning around until finally I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

(INTERLUDE – WOLFS POV)

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Now that there wasn't really anything to patrol with the Cullens gone and no actual threat to innocent human lives, it was sort of just boring to patrol. Sure, everyone in the packs had their preferred routes and the wolf standing in the clearing just over the treaty lines knew this, but every now and then the wolf liked to take alternate routes.

It gave him time to just sort of not have to really think about anything. It kept him away from those in the packs on the res that were imprinted and as a result that sort of sickening and goofy type of happy that came with it.

Not that there was anything at all wrong with being imprinted.. But when you weren't, like this particular wolf happened to be, it got kind of frustrating to watch the others in their blissed out states.

He'd been just about to turn down a lesser used trail, a trail that he and some others used to ride dirtbikes down not so long ago, when the weirdest thing happened to him. The scent of some sort of melon filled the air, sweet, heavy and his snout raised, sniffing in approval.

His stomach growled too, but that was besides the point. He hadn't eaten in a while, he'd have to either hunt or find food when he was on two legs again, he thought to himself as he just broke and started to run. He ran full speed for what seemed like at least an hour but was actually only closer to five or ten minutes.

He found himself standing in front of the cottage that the bloodsuckers had been 'renovating' when they thought they'd be able to stick around and honor the treaty made between shapeshifter and vampire a few years ago. The cottage hadn't even been lived in by Edward and Bella, the wolf mused to himself mentally for a few moments.

The dark silver four door Grand Am sat there, idling. He watched the car intently, an almost impatient energy flooding him as he did so. He was in this state of heightened alert, heightened awareness.. Was it more of them, the blood suckers?

Or were the Cullens back?

He sniffed the air one more time, the area was devoid of the usual sweet stench of death and decay that came with the bloodsuckers. Instead, the heavy and hypnotic scent of melon filled his nose again and then it happened.

The driver door opened, a curvy female with long legs and brownish blonde hair that stopped in the middle of her back in ringlets got out, slid her feet into a pair of laceless converses as she sort of just stood there, gaping at the cottage.

While she gaped at the cottage, he gaped at her and when she turned around, he recognized her.. She hadn't been to Forks in years though, what was she doing here now and why was she at the cottage her sister and Edward never even bothered to live in? He howled as the burning heat flooded his body, glowed in his veins almost and settled lazily into his stomach.

The things around her got blurrier, she got clearer and more defined. If he had to push for a description of the moment, it was sort of euphoric, really.. And almost like a lucid dream where things are too strange to exist, yet they appear too realistic not to exist. His heart beat madly against his ribcage and he tensed all over as the barrage of images hit him like a thousand bricks.

Everything that mattered before vanished. Any pain he felt, any anger, all the frustration at not being imprinted, none of it mattered now. Nothing mattered but the girl who stood a few feet away talking on a cell phone. He felt like he was dangling above the Heavens right now, about to go into a freefall and he understood suddenly the exact reason that his packmates seemed so shellshocked when they'd imprinted. It was intense, the bond being formed. It was one that couldn't be broken and if it were broken, most certain heartache followed.

The worry of imprint rejecting entered the shifter's mind and his stomach tightened in dread. Rejection, especially like this.. He knew he'd never be able to handle it well. Everything depended on her now. He needed her. He wanted her. He **craved** her on this much deeper and more intense level than he'd ever needed or craved anything previously.

The shifters ears perked, he used his heightened sense of hearing to figure out the subject of conversation and realized that she was trying to explain to Bella that she couldn't just let Bella give her a house, especially one this amazing.

 _You have to! You have to stay!_ ' the wolf thought to himself frantically. He eased a little when he realized that Bella was finally useful in that she'd apparently talked her sister into taking the house and living in it.

He thought for a moment that she might have seen him, but she hadn't, instead, she was standing by the passenger side of the car now, looking down into the car. The shifter was curious about this so he moved closer as quietly and carefully as he could manage and when she emerged from her half bent position beside the car, he realized what she'd been looking at.

The little girl saw him and she giggled but still his imprint hadn't seen him. The little girl was almost a miniature of his imprint and he found himself curious, he wondered if she were going to be here alone. He started to pace in his little area of the nearby forest, grumbling, almost certain that this imprint was doomed already before he even re introduced himself to her.

But he relaxed when he over heard her conversation with her father, they mentioned something about it being just the two of them, his imprint and the little girl in her arms, that would be living in the cottage in the woods.

Just before he made himself leave and start back towards the reservation, he howled one more time, his howl was one of triumph this time. He was sort of letting his packmates know what had happened in a way.

And then he took off for the reservation, phasing to his human form when he got deeper into the woods, waiting. One of the others,Sam, came with some clothing for him and he dressed quickly, not speaking.

"So it finally happened, huh?" Sam asked, trying not to laugh at the expression of shock and awe on the other male's face, the determined set of the other male's jaw as he sat and processed what had just happened to him. He'd felt the same when he imprinted Emily so he knew exactly what was going on in the other male's mind right now.

"Yeah.. I don't think I ever saw this one coming, I mean..I haven't seen her in years, we were kids the last time I saw her.. And I bet she doesn't even remember it.." the male said in a contemplative tone as he sat down, sort of zoned out as he thought over everything that had happened, everything he'd seen when he'd gotten a glimpse of their future together a few seconds after initial imprint was made.

"You gonna be okay, man?"

"I'm good. Just need to think."

"Can you do it walking? I need to get back, I was helping Emily decorate the nursery. She gets edgy when I'm gone too long since she got pregnant." Sam said as he waited patiently on the other male to pull himself together.

It really had hit this particular male like a literal ton of bricks.. Like a punch, like a bolt of lightning on a perfectly clear and sunny day..

He chuckled and said casually, "C'mon. Walk it off."

The male stood and followed Sam out of the woods, stopping a moment to glance back over his shoulder at the cottage in the distance, watching the lights turn on inside one by one.

Now the fun part came.. Figuring out just how to insert himself back into his imprints life. Getting to know her all over again, getting to know her daughter too. He worried a moment, he really hadn't had much experience at all with kids, how was this going to work out.

It had to work out, he thought to himself. She was his and her daughter was a huge part of her. He had enough love for both of them. He'd learn how to make things work as he went, he reasoned.

A lot of things about him were probably going to have to change, but knowing what lie ahead, the male in question didn't really mind at all.

Which was a shocker when he considered that until a few minutes ago, he'd never really considered himself ever being a family kinda guy.. Or a committed one, either.

Not for lack of trying or anything, he just hadn't really ever considered either thing.

* * *

 _Came across this start to a Twilight au sitting in my story files earlier. Since I keep getting writers block on anything I try and start for WWE, I thought that maybe if I shared this, I could get the creative juices flowing again maybe. Obviously, there are huge changes made to the canonverse in that Breaking Dawn II didn't actually happen. Instead, after Renesmee's birth and Bella's rebirth, the Cullens fled town to avoid conflict with the Quileute shapeshifters and the potential threat that lie ahead with the Volturi. For the sake of clarity, we'll say that Alice pretty much saw everything that could happen (IE what actually DID happen in BDII) and the Cullens took proactive steps to ensure that everyone involved had a drama free life? If that makes you happy then cool, look at it that way, that's how I am._

 _ **Also, the original character for this is a fraternal twin sister to Bella, if you want to know more about Livvie, read my profile. I'll throw some stuff up on there about her little one Cheyenne too, shortly, but note that where it says that Livvie lived in Forks until Bella moved there, I've changed that slightly.. In the story I decided to go with Livvie having lived in Florida the entire time that the actual series took place. Makes things so much easier.**_

 _One thing I never really decided on when I wrote this au was whether **Jacob** , or **Embry** was the wolf who imprinted Livvie. There are thousands of Jacob stories that are a thousand times better than this one might turn out to be, so I'm not sure if I wanna go the Jacob route or whether I want to give Embry an imprint because they are both favorite characters of mine. Bearing that in mind, I kept the interlude vague? I thought I'd see if anyone reviewed this and suggested a shifter so that way maybe it'd help me put things into perspective. I really want to continue this despite the fact that a million other stories like it in some way shape or form exist already. But I'll only continue it if you guys want me to._

 _For those who were reading my WWE thing, no worries. I'm revamping that original character and that story due to things I've seen on Raw and Smackdown recently, so keep your eyes peeled. I really think this story being found and me working on it a little sort of worked loose my writers block to some degree, fingers crossed. But if a particular shifter of the three in bold above strikes your fancy as one who'd be good with Livvie/Cheyenne, just let me know via review or something, please and thankies?_

 _I'm going to stop boring you guys now._


	2. Chapter 2

TWO

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The next morning was one of those rarer sunny days and the sunlight streamed through the windows of the cottage. I of course sat up and shielded my eyes, grumbling as I did so. I've never actually been a morning person and the night before had been.. Well, it had been a little weird.

I think I must have lain there for about three hours listening to the overall quiet of the house, the sounds of nature all around me through the crack I left in the bedroom window so I'd have a slight breeze. It's a little hotter than it usually is here for June, so yeah.. With me being a Florida native, that's actually saying something?

My daughters cries echoed through the house and I smiled a little, sat up. She is a morning person, that much she got from her dad. He was always up early, going to sleep late. And he was always happy in the morning. The sadness sort of edged it's way into my stream of consciousness and I slid out of bed, slid on one of my oversized and very old plaid shirts before making my way down the hallway and into Cheyenne's room.

She was sitting up in the little canopy toddler bed, looking around, alert. "Food!" she chirped, fixing those big brown eyes on me a few moments.

"Yes, angel, food.. Coffee for me, banana and strawberries for you." I answered with a laugh as I picked her up and walked down the hallway and into the kitchen.

I looked around at it, the unique mix of modern and old, rustic and sleek and gaped a few moments. There is no way in hell I will ever feel right about just taking this cottage, I mean it was a wedding present to my twin and her husband, they should be enjoying it right now.. But again, they're weird people.

I studied the coffeemaker intently. It hadn't ever been used before, that much was obvious. And it was a much more expensive model than my standard and faithful old one was. None of the appliances actually looked as if they'd been used even one time. Hell, the television set in the living room hadn't even been plugged in or programmed, that much I knew from trying last night when I got up to check on Cheyenne and couldn't go back to sleep and decided on a lark to try and catch a rerun of Supernatural or something..

I found myself wondering yet again why my sister and brother in law wouldn't just live here. Then Cheyenne would have someone to play with even though people would swear up and down that due to my niece's being 'different' she's much older than Cheyenne is.. Maybe Renesmee was the motive for the move. That had to be it, I mean this is a small town and people would have inevitably talked about how 'different' she was.

The movers were going to come today, bring the few things that Caleb and I managed to acquire when we'd been living together. _Maybe putting some of my old stuff throughout the house_.. I ventured mentally. _No, because as soon as I get money saved, I'm finding a place of my own. This is just temporary, even if I'm starting to fall in love with the house,_ I reminded myself as I set to making coffee and while that brewed, mashing together the bananas and strawberries that were going to be Cheyenne's breakfast.

I poured myself a steaming cup of coffee and sipped it as I worked on feeding Cheyenne. She ate her food and her eyes darted around too, familiarizing herself with her new surroundings, taking everything in. She tugged at my hand and took the spoon, eating, making a mess of her face, there were strawberries and bananas all over her cheeks and even on her forehead.

Now that she gets from me. I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head, reach for her bib and wipe her face off.

"Sticky."

"Yeah.. You are, huh? So, what do you wanna do today, angel?"

"Go out!"

"Out where?"

Cheyenne was quiet a few minutes and then she said with a bright grin, "Papa?" and I laughed. I can see now how this is going to go. She'll be over at Dad's almost every single day. It's a good thing, really, he loved having her there last night.

Again, the sadness edged in, I knew if Caleb were here he'd be laughing and then asking 'What, baby girl, you don't love daddy no more?' in that playful tone of his. I sighed and shook my head. Will the memories ever stop just hitting me at random and pulling me right back down when I'm trying like hell to fight my way back up and out of this black hole of bitterness and pain that I'm stuck in?

"Yeah, we'll go to Papa for a little while.. Maybe we can go to the grocery store too, we do need food.. But first, angel, let's go out into the backyard.. Aunt Bella said there might be something out there you'd like." I murmured as I stood, picked Cheyenne up out of the high chair I'd found in the closet of the nursery. We walked outside into that bright sunny day and as soon as I saw the garden, I really gaped.

Wild roses and daisies, all sorts of flowers you'd find if say you just went out into the woods and took a hike at random were blooming all around us. We walked a little further into the backyard, I saw one of the pergolas used in Bella's actual wedding reception.. I frowned a little, I really regretted missing it, but I'd been pregnant, the doctors told me absolutely no travel at the end of my last trimester.

And Caleb got Edward to hire someone to record the whole thing onto a dvd for me as a surrpise. I swore at myself.. Even here I was doing it. It just hurt, I lost Caleb so suddenly and then I sort of just buried everything I felt, all the grief and the pain and the anger..

I thought moving would magically fix things.. Standing out here in this fairyland garden underneath a wooden pergola I sort of started to realize that there was no magic fix. I was going to hurt and hopefully one day, I'd heal a little.

But if I continued to shove it all down and not talk about it, yeah.. I wouldn't ever heal. I suddenly got it. The move was a step towards fixing things. Now I had to take the next one.

Cheyenne asked me quietly, "Pwetty." as she nodded at a wild rose bush nearby. I smiled and then said "It is, angel. Too pretty." as my eyes scanned the little fenced in back yard.

Over in the back, hanging from a really sturdy and old tree was a swing. When Cheyenne spotted it and made big begging eyes at me, I laughed and we made our way over to it. I sat her on the swing and pushed her slowly as I sort of just looked around.. First in the general layout of the backyard, then out further, to the woods that lie beyond the fence. And I saw something move, it was a blur, it was too fast to really know what it was. I rubbed my eyes with my right hand, shook my head in confusion when the blur was gone as quickly as it had come into my view.

"Weird." I thought out loud. Cheyenne looked at me a few minutes and then said "weid.", sort of mimicking me. I laughed and pushed her just a little higher, careful to catch her when she came back towards me. She looked up at me and laughed out loud.

"You like that, huh? Maybe when Mom finds our real house we can put you a swing like this one out in the backyard." I mused aloud as I pushed Cheyenne a little longer.

We'd just started back in the general direction of the sliding French doors off the kitchen that lead to the yard when I felt this sensation of being watched. It was strong enough that I stopped where I was and looked around, shifted Cheyenne closer to me, a little concerned. I didn't see anyone or anything lurking so I finally forced myself to put it out of my mind and go inside.

The phone was ringing almost as soon as I stepped into the house and I ran to pick it up. My dad chuckled on the other end of the line and then asked casually, "You okay? You sound like you ran a marathon just now."

"I'm good just heard the phone and Cheyenne and I ran in to get it. What's up, Dad?"

"Well, I figured that since it's actually not raining and you always did like going fishing with me and Billy and Harry.. Billy and I were going to go fishing, I thought I'd see if you and Cheyenne wanted to come with me.. I think Sue's gonna come down to the lake when she's done with her shift at the clinic." Charlie explained as he laughed when Cheyenne took the phone and said "Hello."

"She's talkative today.. She's a morning kid, I take it? I know you weren't." Charlie said with a laugh as he added, "Hey Cheyenne.. Do you wanna go fishing with Grandpa today?"

"Fishy."

"Yeah." Charlie said with a laugh. After a few more minutes, we hung up and I got Cheyenne ready to run into town with me to go and get food so we'd actually have more in the fridge than the little I had left over from the trip here.

Driving to the store, my mind kept going back to the blur in the backyard, the howls from the night before and the way I felt that tingle all over when I heard the howls. I tried to put it off as some strange coincidence that I was maybe making way too big a deal out of but for some reason or other, the whole thing stubbornly refused to just be banished to the deepest recesses of my mind.

I parked and got out, got Cheyenne out and was starting to walk into the grocery store when I heard my name being called. I turned to find Jessica, one of the girls Bella was friends with at one point while she lived here, standing there, a son around Cheyenne's age in her arms.

Just the thought of Mike Newton procreating with anyone baffled me but I kept quiet. Jessica walked over and then asked with a curious smile, "When did you come back?"

"I got here last night.. I'm sort of staying in Bella's old cottage?"

"You mean that cottage they fixed up and never lived in? How is that? I mean it's in the middle of the woods, I'd be freaked out every ten seconds. How have you been? Where's Caleb?"

I stiffened. I didn't want to talk about everything, and I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to talk about everything with a girl I vaguely remember Bella saying had the tendency to go around gossiping about pretty much anything. Finally, I muttered quietly, "He died.. It's just me and Cheyenne now.. We moved back to be closer to Dad.. How are you?"

"Great." she held up a hand that I kid you not was nearly weighed down by the biggest damned diamond I've ever laid eyes on. I thought to myself _'Overcompensate much, Newton?'_ for a few moments, but I made some polite comment about how it was a nice ring, how I was happy for her and then not a moment too soon I got the hell away from her.

Cheyenne and I roamed the store, Cheyenne trying to sneak things into my cart like a soda and candy and various other things that I'm really not too fond of letting her eat that often and with a laugh, I put them all back on the shelves and then asked "You got mom's sweet tooth apparently." which made her giggle.

We were in the checkout when I saw Leah and Seth walking in, so I waved them over. And grumbled when Seth insisted on getting my kid a candy bar. He shrugged and then asked with a bright grin, "So... Have you taken the little to First Beach yet?"

"Not yet.. I thought I would tomorrow if it doesn't start to storm or something.. Why?" I asked, looking from Leah to Seth.. You know that feeling you get when someone's up to something or knows something you don't? I was totally getting that distinct feeling.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and then asked, "What's up?"

"Came to grab food. Since Seth ate all the damned Hot Pockets. And the cereal."

"Yeah, well you ate all the ice cream, Leah."

I laughed and after I talked to them a little longer, I checked out and went out to the car, put all the food and stuff I'd bought into the trunk. The drive home was pretty much the same as the drive to the store, only now I found myself actually curious as to what Leah and Seth had been up to earlier when they dropped hints about me taking Cheyenne to First Beach.

"Probably just trying to suggest things for us to do before I have to start work on Monday.." I guessed as I parked the car and got Cheyenne out, was just about to pop the trunk and get out the food I could carry in on one trip out also.. The howl echoed through the mostly quiet of the forest and I happened to look over to the side of the house just as the blur disappeared into the trees again.

I raked my hands through my hair and looked down at Cheyenne who was giggling almost as if she'd seen something. "What? What'd you see, baby?"

"Doggy.."

I think my heart rose to my throat quicker than it probably ever has in my entire life. She'd seen a wolf. The more calm and reasonable side of me kicked in thankfully and I reminded myself what Dad and Billy said the night before.. They never come this close to a house..

But obviously, this one had.. I found myself curious, wondering why it might have.. Was it hurt, maybe?

I grumbled a little and picked up the bag, walked into the house. After I put Cheyenne onto her oversized and overstuffed floor pillow, turned on cartoons for her for a few minutes, I walked back out to get the rest of the food.

And I saw it again this time.. It was sort of just standing there, just at the edge of the trees and shrubs in the yard, watching me. I watched it a few moments, wary while my heart beat a thousand miles a minute and I thought it'd run right out of my chest.

There was something strange about it, but I couldn't really put my finger on what that strange thing might be.. After a few more seconds, I picked out what it was.. The wolf's eyes had this sort of intelligent gleam to them.. Almost a soft ambery glow.

I shook my head.

Now I really am imagining things, I thought to myself as I made my way back into the house and started to put the things I'd bought away. As I worked on doing that, my internal musings went another route and I found myself wondering about Jacob, Billy's son and my other childhood friend. It was weird because I really hadn't thought about him much since I was a kid and I stopped visiting so much.. I wondered what he was doing in Canada, mostly and if he was happy.. I knew there had been a certain degree of bitterness when he and Bella stopped being friends, I never really asked her why or what happened..

On that, I was like our father.. Don't ask, don't tell.. I found out things on a need to know basis. And I liked it that way.. But suddenly, a million different questions were nagging at me about the whole thing in general..

I felt like I was missing something huge, really.

I walked into the living room and picked up Cheyenne and then asked with a bright grin, "Is my angel ready to go to Papa?"

Cheyenne nodded and clapped her hands together with glee. I smiled.

Maybe days like this were going to be the things that helped me finally work through everything I'd been through the most.

I needed this, the whole process, more than I realized.

* * *

 **Thanks to JJ, my guest reviewer for pointing out that I'd mentioned Paul and Rachel living in Seattle together. So that means that there are two choices.. Jacob or Embry, ladies, it's up to you guys too. I'm torn because both guys have their obvious merits (pulses being the biggest one, lol) and I thought I'd leave the decision up to you? This chapter sort of has her encountering the wolf, but I again kept it vague, no fur colors or anything.. Because this really could go either way.**

 **Reviews are loved, they really are. I've enjoyed working on this story again, I'd forgotten how much fun writing without writers block could be, honestly. Like I said before, my WWE story featuring the oc Britt Levesque will be reposted asap, no worries for fans of it.**

 **VOTE FOR TEAM EMBRY OR TEAM JACOB. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT LIVVIE OR CHEYENNE THERE ARE THINGS ABOUT THEM LISTED ON MY PROFILE. I'M OCD WITH DETAIL BUT OCCASIONALLY (LIKE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER) I LET THINGS SLIP WHEN I EDIT. THANKS JJ FOR POINTING OUT MY GOOF!**


	3. Chapter 3

THREE

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We'd been fishing for a little over an hour when the sound of a motorcycle echoed off the quiet of the shoreline. I raised a brow and Cheyenne giggled, clapped her hands and pointed excitedly while saying over and over, "Bike, Mama."

I didn't know anyone who rode a motorcycle, I mean Caleb, he used to talk about getting one.. But I'd always shake my head no and then point out that I liked my ass in it's frame.. And his too. Charlie shielded his eyes from the sun and then nudged Billy. The boat started to row towards the shoreline and it came to a stop a few feet away from a tall and muscular russet skinned male with long and almost jet black hair that blew lightly in the breeze, wearing faded jeans, a white t shirt and a plaid shirt, sleeves rolled up to his forearm. A knot formed in my throat as guilt flooded me.. What was I doing, gaping at this guy, really? I tried to reason with myself mentally that the only reason I even saw him was because he looked vaguely familiar but different somehow.. Older..

He had a five o clock shadow and this really rugged look about him.. But somehow in the deeper parts of my mind, I suppose I should have recognized him, I mean we had been friends when we were younger.. And even though it had been years since I'd seen him and I'd sort of just pushed everything to the back of my mind.. I don't think I really and truly forgot him. The thought surfaced before I could stop it and I felt the sharpest pang of guilt at it's dawning.

While I was having this internal struggle of epic proportions, which apparently didn't go amiss with my father or with Billy, because Billy nudged Charlie and mused aloud with a chuckle, " I think Pixiedust remembers him, right?" while studying the male intently, almost as if he hadn't expected to see him when we pulled up to shore but happy all the same that he was standing there.

Charlie turned his gaze on me and then I really felt guilty.. I mean Caleb's literally not even cold yet, he's only been gone half a year.. And here I sat, on a boat, gaping at some really gorgeous specimen of man as if he were the fire and I was the hose.. I mean if I had to guess, I'd guess that was basically what the expression on my face read. I coughed, mumbled something and gave my dad a firm look..

Had he and Billy planned this or something? I mean my father knows how I feel, how I think it's too soon, how I need time, I need to be able to grieve on my own terms.. We talked about all that when I said I was moving back here to try and start over.. I thought that when he said he understood that meant he and Billy wouldn't meddle..

My eyes darted away from Adonis on a motorcycle for a moment and over to Billy.. Billy seemed just as shocked to see the guy as I was apparently and when he finally spoke again, the explanation as to why wasn't necessary anymore. "You're home."

My eyes darted back to Adonis on a motorcycle again and I gaped.. That was Jacob? Bella turned **him** down in favor of the weirdo I know and accept as my brother in law now? What the literal hell was she thinking?

The guilt was piling higher and higher but I couldn't tear my eyes away. A word formed finally, but only after my normally reserved around strangers two year old made her way to the edge of the boat and held out her little chubby hand to him, beckoning him closer as she said quietly, "Fishy, sir?"

Jacob's eyes darted downward to my little girls and then back to me. There was this weird look on his face and he grunted something to his father and draped his plaid shirt over the handlebars of his black and chrome motorcycle.

Finally, after all this happened, the word came.. "Jacob?" it came out more as a question, more like I wasn't sure he was really standing here, to myself it sounded at the time almost like I was glad to see him, which definitely shocked me because I realized that yes.. I was.

Jacob represented the happiness and innocence of my childhood. Jacob was sort of my first crush, the memories came rushing back a little. The guilt I felt at gaping at him when I'd first seen him standing on the shoreline tripled.

My mind raged at me, _'How dare you! What would Caleb think if he were here? He hasn't even been dead more than a year at best. And your little girl, Livvie.. Do you really want to be_ _ **that kind of mom**_ _? Renee was, she dated a lot. Remember how much it hurt_ _ **you**_ _every single time the sitter came or Bella took you into the playroom to play boardgames for a few hours while Renee went out on her dates? Or every single time the door to the little house in Phoenix opened you'd pray it was Daddy walking through it again, coming to his senses, coming to be with his girls? And how_ _ **devastated**_ _you were every single time it wasn't?_ _'_ and my teeth grazed my dry lower lip.

When I said his name, he'd been baiting Cheyenne's new little pink and purple fishing pole while talking to her quietly, but his head snapped up and a bright grin slowly spread across his lips - _kissable lips, Livvie, at least admit that, damn it, you're mourning, not dead, you can admit he's nothing if not the second most attractive man you've ever seen-_ as he studied me a few moments, curiously.

"Livvie?" he asked, his voice coming out deep and husky, warm and friendly. It tugged at my heart the way he actually sounded a lot more like Caleb than I thought he would. And the guilt that had been tripled before when I even dared to look at Jacob and mentally admit that yes, he was attractive.. It was a thousand times worse.

I nodded. Cheyenne made her way clumsily back towards me, I saw Jacob put his hand on her back to sort of steady her as she did it, I smiled at him as if to thank him, she's pushing her boundaries lately, and she's only really just mastered walking steadily on dry land.. He asked a few seconds later, "So.. You live here now?"

I can't explain why, but I got this distinct feeling that he didn't really need an answer, that he already knew somehow. I nodded again and swore a little when the worm I'd been trying to slip onto my fishing hook came loose and the hook jabbed it's point barely into the flesh of the tip of my index finger.

He was over next to me almost in an instant, almost in the same amount of time that it took my dad to chuckle and take my hand, look at it in concern then ruffle my hair and tell me in that fatherly voice, "Careful, Liv. You always had the worst luck with the worms. Give it to dad."

I held out the pole to my father, the worm was plucked from the hardwood floor of the boat.

Jacob studied my fingertip and mused aloud with a friendly grin and a deep laugh, "That could have been bad. Maybe even worse than the time you somehow managed to almost hook your palm."

All I could really do was nod.. I was reluctant to really talk much, every time I spoke it felt like a knife to Caleb's back, a betrayal or something.. I know it **seems** melodramatic to anyone else, but I was in the full grips of my grief at this particular point in time. And the reaction I had to seeing a childhood best friend after all this time, well.. It had me in this huge internal conflict currently so I thought it best for now that the less I said, the better off I was. I did manage a weak "Yeah." as I took my pole back from my father.

Billy and Charlie were sort of looking at us and then each other, both trying not to laugh but not hiding it well.

"Is this a visit, son, or are you finally going to come to your senses and come home?" Billy asked after a few moments of quiet, mostly just to ease the tension that I'm pretty sure one or both of our fathers were picking up on by now.. They had to be.

Charlie looked over at Jacob as if he were curious too. He better not be planning any matchmaking schemes. I thought we had this understanding when I said I was moving back here.. I thought that of all people, considering he never really dated or remarried after Renee, I thought that surely he'd get why I'm reluctant to fall or move on just yet.

The guilt was subsiding a little, I'd sort of bargained with my brain, pointed out to myself that Jacob was just a friend and right now, more than any other time, that's what I needed. Friends.

But somewhere underneath that whole internal struggle, Pandora's box was slowly creaking open, the lid was sort of pulling away as it had all those years ago when I'd been about 7 or 8 and was convinced that one day I'd marry Jacob Black..

Mentally, I tried to push the lid back on Pandora's box in a hurry. There's just too much there to complicate things. And friends.. I need friends more than anything right now.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked as the boat started out toward the middle of the lake again. I nodded and then said "Yeah, I was just shocked when you showed up? In a good way. I kinda missed you."

He chuckled, it sounded rich and deep and then he smiled at me and said quietly, "I kinda missed you too, Livvie."

Cheyenne looked from me to him and then giggled, moved to sit on Jacob's lap. I'd been about to protest but Jacob said with a shrug, " 'S okay.. She's not bothering me." as he helped her cast a line out into the water, laughing when she told him "I catch tree!"

"Yeah, she did that." Billy chuckled as he watched us, this mysterious look on his face that for a few more moments had me really wondering if maybe he and my father weren't already planning something or up to something.

I hope not.. I mean not that I'd mind, not that I can't deny just how big of a comfort it was to see Jacob again, not that I'd deny that at one point in time, he was the ken to my freaking barbie, but.. It's still too soon. Everything hurts.

 _And maybe_ , I thought to myself as I watched Billy, Jacob and my father all trying to help Cheyenne work her new fishing rod, _it's too soon for him too.. He technically lost Bella when she chose one way of life over what he had to offer._

* * *

 **Thanks for all four of my reviews. So far there have been two votes for Jacob, one for Embry. This isn't over yet, though I did go ahead and throw Jacob into the mix just to make things a little interesting. I also want to thank both the people who added this to their favorite stories alert, both of you and all five of you who added this to their follows. I kept things vague in this chapter again, so it's up to you guys to decide.. Is Jacob the wolf or is Embry?**

 **VOTE FOR TEAM EMBRY OR TEAM JACOB. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT LIVVIE OR CHEYENNE THERE ARE THINGS ABOUT THEM LISTED ON MY PROFILE. I'M OCD WITH DETAIL BUT OCCASIONALLY (LIKE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER) I LET THINGS SLIP WHEN I EDIT. VOTE!**


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR

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"So.. What made you move into Bella's cottage?" Jacob asked me as we walked down the beach side by side, Cheyenne between the two of us. I bit my lower lip a few moments and then said quietly, " It's sort of me trying to start over." It was a few days later, he'd been back in La Push for almost a week or two by then.. And we'd really started to reconnect, it was almost as if we never stopped being friends.. He'd asked if Cheyenne and I wanted to come to First Beach with him, go swimming.. I'd said yes and now we were sort of just wandering down the beach, talking.

"Start over from what?" Jacob asked. We stopped walking because Cheyenne found a pebble on the beach and she thought it was pretty, she wanted to pick it up. I looked up at Jacob a moment and my teeth grazed my lower lip as I tried to figure out the best way to explain everything without the pain surfacing yet again.

"If you don't wanna talk about it, it's okay." Jacob insisted. He must have seen the pained look on my face or something. I sighed quietly and then said at last, "It's not that I don't want to. It just hurts." as I picked up Cheyenne because she wanted to go barefoot and I didn't want her getting a piece of beach glass or shell stuck in her foot or something. Plus she's comforting.. Holding her.. It makes everything feel okay, makes it hurt a lot less.

"Billy told me some of what happened. About Cheyenne's father dying.." Jacob admitted finally. He stared off into the water that stretched out almost endlessly and ran along the side of the three of us and picking up a pebble of his own, he skipped it across the water's surface and then admitted, "And I know how it feels.. I mean what happened with me and Bells.. It wasn't the same yet it was."

I nodded. I could see how in a sense that while the two things were alike they were also totally different. Caleb was gone forever. Bella was alive but dead. But she wanted that life. And parts of me for some reason struggled to keep the thought in my head and not to say it to Jacob. I didn't want to upset him, I could sort of just tell that this had been a sore subject at one point or another. _For all I knew it might still be a sore subject,_ I reminded myself promptly.

"I thought leaving town would fix things. It didn't. Coming back though.. That fixed everything. Things make sense now. I guess I needed time away from the situation, I needed to think, to try and get over it all." Jacob said quietly as he looked over at me and then said "But talking about it really does help. And if you want to talk I'll listen."

I nodded again. Somehow, I just don't see myself really being able to talk about it. I'd be worried that they'd either think I was pathetic and melodramatic or it'd make them uncomfortable, make them feel like they had to help me or pity me or something and that was the last thing I wanted currently.

I stared out at the ocean now, the breeze whipped around the three of us and Cheyenne pointed to the waves rolling in. "It's peaceful here. I sort of wish that when Bella moved back to live with Charlie I had too. But I just wanted to be my own person, not one of two for once ya know?" I admitted as I looked up at Jacob and smiled a little.

"Honestly? You've never really been one of two with me. You and Bella are two very different people. Very different." Jacob admitted and then added quietly, "And that's not a bad thing."

"It isn't. She's my sister and I love her but she makes the weirdest damned decisions."

The conversation ended and a few moments later, Jacob asked me "So where are you working? Billy mentioned something about you interning at the hospital and working at that new clinic."

I nodded and then said thoughtfully, "I start Monday. I'm kind of nervous, I mean I'm not sure how well Cheyenne will like going to daycare and she's so little. I hate it, not being able to spend much time with her right now. But it makes me value the time I do get to spend with her so that's not too bad, right?" as I looked up at him and asked "And you? What are you doing?"

"I actually don't know yet. I put in an application to work at that garage in town. I thought about going to college or something. Maybe to be an EMT or something like that." Jacob admitted, shrugging a little as he skimmed another pebble across the water's calm surface. Cheyenne giggled and clapped and he bent down to her level and asked, "Do you wanna try?"

She nodded her head so hard and fast I thought for sure she'd get whiplash and then held out her hand quietly. Jacob grabbed her up instead, she laughed and then said "I fly, mama."

Jacob chuckled and shook his head no then said "Not really.. But let's go find a rock, okay? I think I know where the perfect one is.." as his eyes darted around, settled on a few pebbles lying in the sand near a partially water destroyed sand castle that someone must have tried to build earlier. He eased Cheyenne onto his shoulders and then looked up at her and asked, "Are you holdin on?"

"Uh huh."

He turned to me, I was laughing a little. It felt so good to laugh again. But the pang of guilt forced it's way through to the surface and I sighed to myself. Then I reminded myself that I did need friendship right now.

Everything else, if anything else at all does happen.. It doesn't have to be this instantaneous thing.. I just sort of feel like Jacob and I are both healing from things we went through. That maybe we reconnected and started to be friends again for a reason.

I caught up to them and laughed when I heard Cheyenne telling Jacob that over half the pebbles he picked up were too pretty to be thrown into the water. Finally they found one, a darker gray one and he put it into her hands, kneeling down beside her as he gently lifted her chubby little arm and then said "Now you gotta let it go."

It landed at her feet and she stomped her foot and scowled at the rock and then said quietly, "You do it." as she bent and picked up the rock, put it into his hand. He grinned and skipped the rock, fluffed her blonde curls and said "You'll get it."

"Uh uh. Me little."

"Yeah, you'll get it. I'll teach you."

"Promise?"

"Promise, Pixie." Jacob said to her as he put her back onto his shoulders, nodded to the boardwalk and then asked casually, "Think they still have that one ice cream stand?"

"That might not be a good id..." my voice trailed off as Jacob asked Cheyenne, "We want ice cream right? Let's tell Mom that one ice cream won't hurt."

I waved my hands and then said with a laugh, "Okay, but when she's running up and down walls, Jake, I warned you."

"She'll be fine."

The way he said it, it triggered yet another memory of Caleb.. Caleb did the same things with Cheyenne that Jacob is right now.. And once he took her on a drive under the guise of getting her to sleep.. She came back with strawberry ice cream all over her face and wide awake. Again the sadness came and it hurt. I noticed that like things seemed to for a little while now, even before Jacob came back a few days ago, it seemed to hurt just a little less.. I've been talking to Dad about Caleb a lot. I tell Cheyenne stories about her father before she goes to sleep at night. It's not a stretch to think that maybe talking about him to my father and my daughter are helping a little.. And now, having Jacob back in my life as a friend is definitely helping me, more than he even realizes.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked me quietly, he nudged my side to get my attention. I nodded and said quietly, "I just.. I was thinking about something."

"Like I said before.. If you want to talk about something, anything.. I'm here and I'll listen." Jacob said again. I nodded and then said quietly, "I was just remembering something that happened before Caleb died. You remind me of him.. Or he reminded me of you." before coughing awkwardly. Jacob smiled and pushed open the door to the little ice cream parlor, letting me walk in, carrying Cheyenne in on his shoulders.

"I'm glad we're friends again." he admitted as we got our ice creams and sat down at a table, Cheyenne between us. She'd decided to share a banana split with me, the look on her face when she saw how big it was was priceless. Jacob told her with a laugh, "When your mom and I were little, Pixie.. Our dads bought us here with your aunt.. And she ordered one then.. And when she got it, she made the same face you're making now. It was cute."

I bit my lower lip as I stared at him a few moments and stammered something, I don't even know what I said really. I took a bite of my ice cream, feeding Cheyenne a smaller bite.

Jacob dug into his banana split and groaned as if he hadn't had real food or ice cream in a while. It was loud.. Loud enough that I looked at him, stifling a laugh, my brow raised.

"I missed this place."  
"Me too." I admitted as we shared a look for a few moments.

Cheyenne watched us both for a few moments while eating ice cream with her fingers when she thought I wasn't looking which made Jacob laugh. She finally asked, "Watch Frozen?"

Jacob knit his brow together almost as if he hadn't heard of the movie Frozen. I groaned internally.. My little girl has seen Frozen so much that sadly I know the entire soundtrack.. And over half the lines. But I watch it with her whenever she wants.

Finally he said with a grin, "Yeah. I mean if it's okay with Mom?"

I nodded and then told Jacob with a smirk, "You have no idea what you're in for you poor poor man."

"It'll be fun."

"Said no adult ever. You do realize that Frozen is the entire reason that adults like us cringe when we hear the words Let It Go or Do You Want To Build A Snowman? Right?" I asked, wondering just what he'd been up to for the past few years... I was sort of starting to get the sense that there was a lot more to his being gone than I might realize.

Maybe it was one of those primitive things, no television, no outside world.. A retreat or something. Caleb threatened on more than one occasion to pack us both up and move us to one, he thought it'd be peaceful.

I thought I'd lose my mind. I have a little bit of a Netflix addiction, sadly. And there are some things I just can't go without like television or my coffee maker..

Jacob chuckled when Cheyenne started to sing Do You Wanna Build A Snowman from memory and then he said with a shrug, "Okay, I think I see what you mean."

"Trust me.. You've seen nothing yet. It's a good movie.. But Cheyenne's seen it so much that I know over half the lines." I admitted.

"Then watch Epic!"

"Ooh.. Epic was good. How about Epic first, angel?" I asked, crossing my fingers underneath the table out of sight. Cheyenne smiled brightly and nodded then told Jacob, "Little people."

"There's an entire civilization of people the size of ants." I explained when Jacob gave me a puzzled look. He laughed and nodded. "You don't mind it, right? Me being there?"

"No.. Why would I?"

He smiled and then said "Good." as he looked at me. That look was in his eyes again, the same one he'd had in his eyes when he'd shown up at the lake while we were all fishing.. I almost asked him why he kept looking at me the way he did but I decided against.

No sense in making things awkward. Besides, I'm over analytical, there is a huge chance I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. It wouldn't be the first time I've done that.

* * *

 **Wow. I'm so happy right now, ten reviews and 3 favorites, thirteen followers! Aww, you guys, I love you all. Jacob won the poll hands down. After I sat down and read it, and read some of my reviews, I agreed with them.. Jacob does need his own love story. Again, I love you all so much!**


	5. Chapter 5

FOUR

* * *

FIVE

I rolled over and picked up my cell phone, grumbled a little to myself before finally asking, "Hello?" and sitting up in the bed. My eyes darted around, attempting to adjust to the overall darkness and my father was explaining to me that he'd been called to an accident, that he needed to bring Cheyenne home so he could go to it.

Sue was at work and Seth and Leah were elsewhere.

I told my father I'd wait on him to get here so I could let him in and slid out of bed, stumbling down the hallway in almost total darkness because that's how I like things when I'm going to sleep at nights, and I'd just stepped into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee when I saw headlights, saw my father's patrol car turning into the driveway.

I walked out and got Cheyenne from him, hugged him and told him to be careful before going back inside. I'd just locked the door and was walking down the hallway to get Cheyenne settled back into her own bed and asleep when I realized that now, I was fully awake. I can't ever go back to sleep if I'm woken up during the night honestly, and I knew there was no sense in bothering to try.

Cheyenne snored lightly from her little toddler sized canopy bed in the nursery and after I was totally sure she was asleep, I walked into my own bedroom and flopped back across the bed. I stared at his number a few moments.

Then I grumbled at myself. Have you ever just had one of those occurrences hit you where you just want to hear someone's voice? Where you want to talk to someone and it's the worst possible time to do so imaginable?

It shocked me, but I was lying in my bed at a little after 1 am and I was seriously beyond tempted to call Jacob.. Just because I wanted to hear his voice. I needed to hear his voice.

The guilt that usually came when I felt things like this about Jacob came of course and that's what made me put the phone down. I'd just put it down though and it rang, the vibrations sort of scooting it over the nightstand's white surface.

I raised a brow and rolled over, picked up the phone. I really raised a brow when I heard Jacob on the other end of the line. Apparently, he wasn't sleeping either.

"You weren't asleep were you?"

"Not really.. I mean I was but Dad got a call to go to the station, something about an accident or something and he had to bring Cheyene home and I've never been able to get back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night.. You know my excuse now, what's yours?" I asked, rolling over onto my stomach in bed, propping up on my elbow.

He chuckled and then admitted quietly, "Well.. I knew Cheyenne was staying with Charlie tonight.. I also know that she's never really stayed with anyone before.. And I thought you might be getting a little lonely, I mean you do live in a cottage in the forest. There are horror movies about that, Livvie. How'd Cheyenne like the carnival earlier? I had a good time. I wish you'd been able to get off and come with us, it would have been even more fun." as he moved around. I could hear him moving around and my mind sort of side tracked, I tried to picture what he might be doing.

It's one am.. He's obviously just laying there. I smiled a little, it was nice that he called me. The guilt got at least ten times worse, but just hearing his voice, talking to him for whatever reason..

To backtrack.. Today was a particularly bad day for me. Today is the date that Caleb died. I don't handle it well at all, and I spent the entire day sort of feeling like a raw nerve.. Like someone took my heart and ripped it right out of my chest.. When I wasn't feeling beyond guilty for thinking about Jacob, or for spending so much time with him, or the way I felt better when I did spend time with him or talk to him.

So I'd pretty much been on a rollercoaster of emotions since early that morning when I got up and got ready to go to work.. I honestly didn't want to go anywhere or do anything, but.. I sort of had to..

Charlie wanted to keep Cheyenne tonight so I could have some 'personal time' when I finally did get off from work. I didn't want to let her go and stay overnight somewhere that I wasn't, but I could see his point... She has to do these things. And she was safe. It wasn't like she was going to be a million miles away or with total strangers. Honestly, I think he was lonely too.

He wound up taking her to some carnival on the reservation with Billy and Jacob who met up with them when he got off work at the garage. I wanted to go to the carnival but I had to work two shifts at the clinic and only just got off around five that afternoon. And when I had finally gotten off, I fully intended to go to the carnival, I just wanted to spend time with everyone who makes me feel happy, who make things a whole lot easier to bear just by being around.. But when I came here to change, well.. I'd fallen asleep.

When Charlie called me just a little while before Jacob did, that was the first time I'd actually woken up since I crashed after work.

"She loved it. I wish I'd have been able to come too, Marla got sick so I had to fill in for her. Then I came back here and crashed. Just a little while ago when Dad bought Cheyenne back to go into the station.. That's actually the first time I've woken up since I crashed."

Jacob chuckled and then said "I also wanted to call and see if you were okay.. I know you said something about today being the day.."

"Yeah.. I did.. I'm as okay as I can be, Jacob.. Are you okay? I mean it's getting close to when she... You know. And you're always making me talk to you about things.. If I'm your friend you should talk to me about stuff that bothers you too." I demanded gently, sitting up in bed, sliding out of the bed, going down the hallway and into the kitchen, getting myself a glass of water.

Jacob was silent for a few moments and then he said finally, "Believe it or not, Liv.. It really doesn't bother me now. I mean not so long ago? I'd have felt like I were being tortured alive or something. But she made her choice. And I'm happier now than I have been in a while. I think I'm sort of at peace with everything that happened then and I think that maybe I have been for a while now."

"That's good." I said as I sipped the water and looked out the window of the kitchen, into the garden, up at the moon. "The moon's brighter tonight."

"It is. I noticed it earlier." Jacob admitted.

Neither of us said anything but I think we were both more than glad to put the whole angsty and awkward part of our conversation behind us. I slid onto the countertop of the kitchen island and then said with a yawn, " I think I needed the sleep."

"Yeah, you've been working two at a time shifts for a week now?" Jacob asked, adding in a lower and slightly more concerned tone, "Maybe rest isn't a bad idea. I mean if you go too long without sleep."

We both laughed and I asked, "So.. Other than taking Cheyenne to that carnival with our fathers.. What'd you do today?"

"Well.. I got called into work.. The garage I applied to downtown? I'm working there now, secondary lead mechanic.. And I actually made myself check into becoming an EMT."

"That's great!" I said as I smiled, happy for him. Also, deep down, though the guilt I felt when I had the thought sort of overwhelmed me as it came quickly and heavily, I thought to myself that _'He wants to stay. I won't lose my best friend. I might actually have a chance..'_ but, like I said.. The guilt I felt at the thought even crossing my mind..

We talked a little longer and I said casually, "I have the day off tomorrow.. Do you wanna go with me somewhere? I was going to take Cheyenne to that zoo in Port Angeles. No harassing the parrots this time."

We both laughed again and he said "Yeah? Well no plotting to steal the red pandas." as he stopped laughing and then said "Yeah.. I'd like that."

After we said our goodnights, I went to my room and flopped back into the bed. And about ten minutes later, I finally managed to fall asleep again.

* * *

 **Wow. I'm so happy right now, eleven reviews and 10 favorites, sixteen followers! Aww, you guys, I love you all. Jacob won the poll hands down. After I sat down and read it, and read some of my reviews, I agreed with them.. Jacob does need his own love story. Again, I love you all so much!**

 **Oh yeah.. And sorry if things seem to move with a snail's pace. They just have so much pain between them, ya know? And they have to sort of readjust to each other? I promise it will pick up in action and stuff soon.. Probably a little sooner than you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

SIX

Jacob laughed and nodded down to Cheyenne who was draped across his chest, snoring lightly, a brightly colored stuffed animal dangling from her hand, chocolate all over her face and then he said to me, "She's worn out." as I laughed and snapped a picture of them.

"She is. She should sleep really well tonight." I admitted, realizing that yet again for at least the tenth time that day Jacob and I seemed to be migrating closer together in the crowd we were trying to merge with to exit the Port Angeles Zoo.

I felt his hand rest across the lower part of my back, I felt this burning heat when he touched me and I looked up at him in concern and asked, "You're sure you're okay.. I mean you're always burning up." as I bit my lower lip, my brow knitting together in worry. He nodded and said gently, "I'm fine. " 'S like I keep telling you, Liv.. Guys have higher body temperatures than girls. We're supposed to be hotter." as I felt his thumb sort of graze my lower back, almost as if he were sqeezing a little to reassure me or something like that.

"A little hotter, Jake. Not feel as if you've literally slept in a sauna." I argued, a gentle but firm and concerned tone to my voice. He chuckled, shook his head as he looked at me and then said "Worried about me?"

"A little, yes." I admitted, smiling and laughing when he got this bright grin. He shifted Cheyenne from one side of his body to the other and I felt a sizable surge of guilt as I wondered to myself _'If I'd come with Bells when she moved in with Dad.. Just how different would things be right now?'_ and abruptly, I put the thought out of my head.

We got into my car and Jacob noticed the check oil light lit up when I turned the key on to start the car. "If you'd have said something, Liv." he pointed out. I shrugged and then said "I've been meaning to get it changed or looked at, I've just been busy."

"Hello.. Best friend who's a mechanic?" Jacob asked, chuckling. I nodded and then asked, "Okay, alright.. Will you check the oil in here?"

"Yeah."

We merged into traffic leaving Port Angeles and I looked over at him, found him staring at me already, that look in his eyes again. I can't really decipher what that look in his eye means but it happens a lot I've noticed. Like he's thinking.. Or as hopeless a romantic as I used to be I'd almost think that it was that he was looking at me like I was the only girl in the world.

The guilt surged in me again and I bit my lower lip. Something Charlie said to me a few days ago, about Caleb wouldn't want me just giving up, if he really loved me, he'd want me to be happy again.. It chose that moment to come back to me.

"You okay?" Jacob asked quietly as I looked over at him a moment and then answered with a nod, "Yeah.. just thinking about stuff."

"Such as?"

"Nothing, really, it's.." I trailed off. Jacob shook his head and said in a firm yet gentle tone, "Tell me."

"Okay, fine.. There's this movie I've been wanting to see.. And Charlie's been sort of wanting to keep Cheyenne overnight again, something about him building her a surprise in the backyard.. I thought maybe we could go see the movie I've been wanting to see?"

His face lit up it seemed like and he nodded as he asked, "What about tonight? Billy was planning on going over to watch the game with Charlie, he's sort of been on me about getting you to bring Cheyenne over to visit?" an almost sheepish grin as he said the words.

"Let me see if Charlie wants to keep her first." I said as I smiled at him. The entire time I was doing this, mentally my mind was raging at me. I reminded myself again that Dad has been on me about giving myself the occasional little bit of me time. I know he has alterior motives -spending time with Cheyenne and possibly attempting to play cupid with me and Jacob- but it's sort of true. If I'm tired and stressed about bills and work and my college courses and how little time I actually do get to spend with my baby girl, how will I be a good mom to her?

And Jacob is my friend. And I just.. I need him around.. I want him around.. Somehow, when he's with Cheyenne and I, things just sort of feel right. I don't hurt as badly. The same can be said by how much time I spend with my father, of course, but.. There's just something about the way Jacob makes me feel lately. We've gotten closer in the space of time I've been living in Forks again.

It feels good. And right now I just want to feel good.

 _'Oh come off it, you know it's more than right now. Those old feelings are back, Livvie. And the sooner you stop denying that, stop fooling yourself..'_ my mind argued as I pulled into Dad's driveway, laughing as I saw Billy's truck sitting there, Billy and my father and Seth engrossed in a heated discussion, all three of them pointing at different trees in the backyard area.

A box sat open on the ground, wood was stacked nearby. I laughed and Jacob said casually, "And I see they started it already."

"Yeah.. Remember the time Seth tried to help us build our clubhouse by the creek?"

"Yes.. And I remember exactly why we didn't let him use hammer and nails after the fact either." Jacob mused as we got out. I carried Cheyenne over and Jacob slid his arm around me, he does it a lot, it's a friendly thing, I dare not hope it's more, we're both going through a lot right now and I'm a little afraid to admit that maybe deep down I want more than friendship..

Billy nudged Charlie and Charlie walked over, took Cheyenne who woke up and started chattering, telling him about the zoo in the few words and phrases she knows and some she's learned more recently. Charlie turned his attention to Jacob and I and asked, "So you three had a good time I take it?"

"We did." I smiled as my father used the fact that nobody else was looking at us at the moment, they were listening to Cheyenne telling about her zoo trip to notice, and he mouthed, 'Told you so'

I smiled a little. Okay, so he'd been right. "So.. I was wondering if you wanted to keep Cheyenne tonight.. I know you asked if she could stay earlier.." I asked, waiting. Charlie smiled and nodded and then asked, "Something planned?"

Billy's gaze shifted to us and I smiled. Jacob shrugged and then said "We're going to see this movie.. That better not be a chick flick." as he flashed a bright teasing grin at me. I laughed and then shrugged mysteriously, "Maybe it's not."

"That's good. I'd love to keep her tonight. She can try out this thing when we finally come to a decision as to where we'll actually put it." Charlie said as he smiled at me, smiled at Jacob.

Jacob spoke up and said with a wry and joking grin, "Keep Clearwater away from the hammer and nails." as he looked at me and smiled. I laughed and Seth grumbled a little, something about the two of us had a huge part in why the clubhouse didn't actually remain standing.

After a few minutes, I said goodbye to my dad and Cheyenne and Jacob and I set off for the movies. Once we were in the car again, Jacob smiled and then asked "It's not a chick flick though, right?"

"Actually, no. It's a horror movie.. Insiduous 3."

"You wanna see a horror movie.. and you live in a cabin in the forest.. Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jacob teased. I gave him a scowl and then said casually, "I don't get that scared."

"Says the girl who hid for an entire hour from me because I chased her wearing a hockey mask that glowed in the dark."

"Funny, Jacob."

"I aim for that, yes."

Maybe doing small things like this now and then, sort of trying to get myself used to the possibility of eventually one day when I'm finally ready for it to happen making a move... Finally going for the guy I thought I'd 'marry' when I was probably seven or eight.. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

I had to try, right?

I'd consider tonight an experiment. I'd take things painfully snails pace slow. We both have a lot of pain we're dealing with between the two of us. For now, friends.. But maybe I can eventually work up to there being more..

* * *

 **Wow. I'm so happy right now, twelve reviews and 14 favorites, twenty three followers! Aww, you guys, I love you all. Again, I love you all so much!**

 **And now.. Things are starting to pick up.. But just a little. ;p**


	7. Chapter 7

SEVEN

Jacob laughed when I tensed and ducked my head, hands over my eyes. He dipped his hand into the bucket of popcorn that sat between us and leaned in then whispered, "How did you not see that one coming.. I mean she summoned this thing, whatever it is." as he moved around a little so that my face wound up rested against him and then a few seconds later he asked, "Are you alright now?"

"Oh bite me, Jake. You flinched earlier when the girl was getting dragged down the hallway and almost flew out the window." I grumbled as my nose filled with the woodsy cologne he wore, a little hint of sweat from where he'd been outside earlier, with Cheyenne and I at the zoo. I looked up at him and he smiled, shook his head at me for a moment.

His arm stayed around me. It didn't bother me. I felt guilty, yes, but I also felt safe. I felt happy. This was just two adult friends enjoying a movie. As long as I kept telling myself that I'd be okay, the guilt wouldn't drive me totally insane.

After a few moments, he took a noisy sip of the soda next to him and scowled when he realized that he'd finished it.

I held out mine and he took it, taking a sip, smiling at me a little. He leaned in and said quietly, "I'm having a good time tonight. It feels kinda weird without my little buddy here, but I'm having a good time."

I felt my skin heating under his gaze. I leaned in a little, on instinct and he brushed some hair out of my face. I felt like a moron, I'd thought he might be about to kiss me. It hit me and I gasped a little as I realized what I'd been just about to let him do.

I took a deep breath, reminded myself that it was okay to be a little happy. It was okay to make friends and not be totally consumed by grief all the time. That if Caleb really loved me he wouldn't want me hurting and alone.

It didn't stop the guilt from flooding me, but it made it not so much at once. After a few minutes, I tentatively slid my hand over his and when something gory happened on the screen in front of us, I gasped and swore, put my head back where it'd been resting a few minutes before and squeezed his hand simultaneously.

He snickered and leaned in, his arm around me again as he whispered, "If you wanna go we can go. I mean this movie's good, but if it's going to freak you out like this, Liv.." as his eyes locked on mine and then darted downward to my lips. He licked his lips and I bit my lower lip as I shook my head and managed to whisper back, "I'm fine, really. I mean it's not like I didn't know what I was getting into, right?"

"Yeah, but if it's going to freak you out like this, Liv.."

"Jake, really.. I'm okay. I saw the other two. I'm just squeamish." I admitted. Jacob nodded and whispered quietly, "I know.. I remember once, Liv.. I fell off my bike and you kind of reacted like it was the end of the world or that I'd opened an artery or something."

"I was worried." I said as I thought back, remembered sheepishly how I'd practically dragged him into my father's house and then pushed him into a chair, started cleaning out the small wound. My teeth grazed my lower lip as I found myself wondering again that pesky favorite what if of mine.. What if I'd moved in with Dad when Bells did?

How different would things have gone then?

Could I have stopped him from getting so caught up in my sister's obvious stupidity?

Could I have prevented myself from meeting Caleb and falling in love then losing him? I frowned a little in the darkness, shook my head as I realized that no, I didn't want to have not ever met Caleb.. I wouldn't have my baby girl.

 _'Or maybe, Liv, you would have.'_ something inside me insisted. I focused on the movie, putting all that out of my head for a little while and the movie ended, the lights came back on again. Jacob held out his hand and pulled me up, chuckled as he said "Your face during that last part, Liv.. It was priceless."

"So funny." I muttered. I felt his hand find the small of my back as we walked out of the theater and into the crowd milling around the food court of the mall. I looked up at him and asked quietly, "So.. Maybe we can go and get food? I mean Cheyenne's with my dad.. And I'm having a good time. If I go home right now I'll just toss and turn over half the night like usual when I'm there alone."

"That sounds good,actually.. So. Pick your poison."

"Pizza?"

"The new pizza stand that replaced Sbarro's is disgusting." Jacob admitted, raking his hand over his hair as he nodded to a Wendy's stand and then said "There. They always have good food."

"Works for me." I admitted as we walked over. His arm slid around me again and I didn't mind it. Just the warmth and comfort I felt in the gesture eased the guilt I did feel.

 _Baby steps_ , I reminded myself mentally.. _If I take baby steps I'll be fine._

* * *

 **Wow. I'm so happy right now, fifteen reviews and 17 favorites, twenty six followers! Aww, you guys, I love you all. Again, I love you all so much! This chapter isn't as long as my previous ones but.. I felt like it ended at a good place. And it's about their movie night, little cute things. Major moves are coming soon I swear, guys. I'm trying to build slowly. :) I hope you guys enjoy this so far and that you seem to think that I'm at least partially realistic with the different emotions and things in the story.**

 **But I promise. They're going to get it together soon. I mean they have to. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

EIGHT

Almost as soon as Cheyenne saw the petting zoo at the Halloween carnival that the reservation was holding, she clapped her hands and tugged on my hand while pointing. I smiled at her and nodded, bending to straighten out the wing of her fairy costume. "Just a second, Cheyenne." I said gently as I scanned the crowd.

Leah spotted me and waved, walked over a few moments later with Seth in tow. They were arguing about something and Leah laughed when she saw my costume choice for the night, Catwoman.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just I didn't think you'd actually wear a costume too." Leah said as she adjusted the nurses cap to her own costume. I eyed her a moment and then said with a smirk, "Yeah, well you did too."

"Yeah, well.. I'm going to a party after this." Leah said with a wink before making the remark, "And let's see what Jacob has to say about the costume." with a teasing grin on her face. She picked up Cheyenne and then said casually, "I'm stealing her for a few minutes.. She's good at the carnival games. Last time, when it was Charlie and Billy and Jacob with her she won four cakes."

"And I wondered why she was hopped up on sugar that night." I muttered as I took a picture of Leah with Cheyenne before letting Leah take Cheyenne to play a game or two. I felt a tap to my shoulder and when I turned around Jacob gaped a moment and then after stammering he said quietly, "Wow. You look.."

"I don't look that good, actually. But thanks." I replied, looking at him. I noticed his left hand was bandaged yet again and he said casually, "The station wagon from hell is back in the garage. Hood slammed on my knuckles. I think I busted a few."

"You did actually go and get that looked at, right?"

"Maybe..."

"Seriously, Jake, you're like a baby about any potential pain. I promise it won't hurt as badly as it will when one day you don't get a wound or something looked at and it gets infected and they have to saw off a limb." I grumbled, a concerned look in my eyes as he chuckled.

He kept looking at me.. It reminded me of the way Caleb looked at me a lot. I wasn't expecting the rush of sudden heat to my stomach that I used to get then to happen now, but it did.

And the guilt surged right along with it.

 _'Friends, remember? There is absolutely nothing wrong with just being friends until you're both okay again and ready to see what might happen if you tried. Besides.. He might only just want to be your friend, Liv.'_ I reminded myself mentally only to have my brain argue, _'And if you honestly think that friends is all you want to be, Liv, you're lying to yourself. You want more, you always have. You just never had the courage or the chance then to try.. And now everything hurts too much.. But at least admit that if you hadn't given everything you had to Caleb and lost him too soon.. You'd **definitely** be trying now.'_

Throats cleared from behind us and Jacob turned, grumbled when he saw Paul standing there with Rachel, Jacob's older sister. Leah wandered back over, smirk on her face as she carried Cheyenne's bag of candy in one hand, holding Cheyenne's hand with her other one.

As soon as Cheyenne saw Jacob she scampered up his legs and into his arms. She tried to hide her face, she hasn't ever really met anyone from Jacob's tribe but Leah, Seth and Sue and of course, Billy and Jacob, and she's always sort of been shy around new people.. She looked up at Jacob and wrinkled her nose then said "Stinky."

"Because, Pixie, I just got off work. I promised to come see you and Mom." Jacob said gently, laughing. Paul raised a brow and scratched his head, Jacob slipped his arm around me and then said with a smile, "Cheyenne.. She's Liv's daughter.. You remember Liv, right?"

Rachel stared at me a moment and then hugged me and asked, "When did you move back?"

"About a month or two ago, Rachel. I heard you and the big lug there were living in Seattle?"

"Hey.. my name is Paul, Blondie." Paul stated as he chuckled a few moments, looked from Jacob to me and then at Cheyenne almost as if he were trying to figure something out. A few moments later he asked, "Bella's sister, right?"

"Yes."

While Rachel and I caught up, Jacob and Paul walked away, talking. I wondered why, but I didn't think too much about it. All I know about the guy is the little that Jake's told me and the few things Bella mentioned. Rachel took Cheyenne from me and smiled softly as she said "And soon she'll have somebody to play with.. So are you and Jacob..."

"We're friends.. I mean.."

"Oh, I thought.. I mean you two were always really close when you were both little, it was adorable." Rachel pointed out. I nodded and then said quietly, "Cheyenne's dad passed away a while back.. I just couldn't stay in Florida anymore, I mean everywhere I turned there was a memory. Moving back here to be closer to Dad has helped a lot. Your brother has too. He's been an amazing friend through everything."

"But you want more."

"Exactly. I just know somehow that the timing is off? Like I know I'm not completely okay again yet. But yes, I do want more. When everything's right again." I said as I watched Paul and Jacob talking, Paul gave Jacob a high five and I admitted, "They're getting along, that's good.. I got the impression that Jacob was not crazy about Paul."

"He wasn't. I hope they're going to get along now. " Rachel said as the two wandered over again. Cheyenne came back to me and Jacob slid his arm around me again as he asked, "So.. Where is everybody else?"

"There was food, man." another voice spoke up from nearby. I laughed as I recognized Quil and he smiled, asked me casually, "You finally show up?"

"To be fair, I planned to come to the last one, Quil.. But I went home to change before and I fell asleep." I said as he chuckled and then said through a mouth full, "Yeah, Jacob mentioned you work a lot, it worries him."

I shifted my gaze to Jacob who shrugged and said calmly, "The night shifts, mostly." as he smiled at me. Internally, I cannot explain the way I felt when he said it. There was this rush of varying emotions from the ever present guilt I felt at the feelings I was slowly starting to realize I couldn't deny anymore to being hopeful that maybe he might want to be more than just friends with me when I was finally ready to give things a try sooner or later.

Embry wandered over, high fiving Jacob hello and then asking with a smile, "And I see you got her not to fall asleep this time. It's about time." as he laughed a few moments and took Cheyenne when she reached for him.

"You might wanna watch out, Call, she has a thing for long hair." Seth said as he wandered back over, a girl with him, eating cotton candy. "They have a mini rollercoaster thing."

"No Seth." Jacob and I said at the same time. We laughed and Jacob took Cheyenne back from Embry because she reached for him.

"Oh come on. Pixie will be fine."

"She's had a lot of candy." Leah said as she looked at her brother and then added, "And if she vomits, Seth, we all know you will not be far behind."

"Shut it, Leah."

"It's true." Leah pointed out as she took a Snickers, unwrapped it, eating.

"And here comes Sam." Jacob muttered right as Jared and his girlfriend Kim wandered over, Jared snickering when Cheyenne saw his pickle and reached. I cut my eyes to Jared who pretended to wave his hands defensively and then said "She ate half of it last time."

"And now I know why she was so hopped up on food when I got her back last time." I grumbled a little, laughing to myself. The way Jacob's friends were treating us, it made it feel as if we were family or something too. I mean hearing Bella talk about Jacob's friends and actually meeting most of them or in the case of Seth and Quil, getting reacquainted with.. It was a world of difference, really.

I get the sense that my sister might have sugarcoated a lot of things, actually, because I've actually become pretty good friends with Leah AND Jessica Stanley since I moved here. I have my suspicions as to why Bella would make me think that they wouldn't want to be friends, and at first, yes, Leah was warier of me than she is now, but.. I basically think that she wanted everyone to love her, to accept her with Edward and there were apparently a lot of people who actually didn't.

Which trust me, I've met the family and the guy himself and yes.. I totally get why they'd be a little more than concerned.

"Maybe." Jared said with a laugh, cutting through my thoughts.

Sam Uley and his wife Emily wandered over, Emily smiled and then said "She had a really good time playing with my niece last time. Claire wanted to come again to play with her but she couldn't make it. Poor thing isn't feeling too well."

"Yeah, Cheyenne didn't feel very well last week.. But she's got another tooth coming in, I think that's most of what was wrong with her." I admitted, smiling at Emily. To meet Sam was strange.. I mean I vaguely remember a conversation in which my sister basically blamed him for Jacob not wanting to be around her and meeting the guy, I just didn't get the feeling he'd do that.

Again, I was sort of wondering if maybe Bella weren't trying to make me prefer the Cullens so I'd side with her and help her be allowed to see the guy again by talking to our dad. I was glad I didn't, suddenly, everyone seems really nice.

Totally not the way my sister made things seem.

Which isn't a surprise, really.

"Catwoman and a fairy." Sam mused, chuckling as Jacob said quietly, "This is Liv."

I smiled. Jacob's hand lingered at the small of my back almost as if he were trying to ward off any case of bad nerves I might get.. That he sort of just senses these things about me sometimes.. Or remembers them.. It makes me happy.

"It's nice to meet you, Liv." Sam said as he smiled. We all sort of wandered around the carnival. Cheyenne gave Jacob big begging eyes to go to the petting zoo and I groaned internally when she talked Jacob into letting her onto one of the ponies. She loves horses. I love horses. I actually rode in a few horse shows before Cheyenne came along, Caleb got me into it. I felt sadness mixed in with the happiness it gave me to see Jacob, the way he was with Cheyenne, walking beside the horse, talking to her.

Caleb should have been able to do that. It surprised me the slight anger I felt that Caleb hadn't even really gotten to be a father before he got taken from Cheyenne and I. Anger, I remembered from all my talks with the grief counsel I sought when I just couldn't deal anymore for a while there after Caleb first died.. Anger is one of the stages of grief. I can't remember which one it is, but.. Maybe I'm changing stages.

Moving back here has helped me and my little girl more than I thought it would when I initially did it. I just want to be okay again. I want to have a normal and slightly happy life again. I really want Jacob to be a part of that. That's why it's so important that I don't rush things and make myself think I'm ready for more than I can really handle. Or rush him into anything he's not actually ready for, either.

Jacob came back over with Quil and Embry in tow, carrying Cheyenne just as I snapped the last picture of her ride on the pony. He smiled at me and asked in concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine actually. So, let me guess. She now wants a pony." I mused as Cheyenne nodded her head and Jacob chuckled then stated, "We'll see.. I mean I don't really know where you'd keep it, pixie.." as I gave him a playful dirty look and then smiled. He slipped his arm back around me and then leaned in a little and asked, "You looked upset just now."

"It's fine, Jake, I swear. I was just thinking about all the stuff Cheyenne's going to miss and I got a little angry.. But that's good.. And you.. You're amazing, you've actually done a lot more with her than you have to. She has memories now. So I'm not saying what you've done doesn't matter because it totally does.."

"It's just that Caleb didn't get to.. Right?"

"Yeah."

"And that makes you mad, like it's unfair." Jacob guessed. I nodded and he nodded too and then said " I do this with her, Liv because you both mean more to me than you realize.. I mean I didn't really get how much you meant to me, Liv, until I saw you again at the lake that day. And she's a part of you. So I don't mind, I swear.." as he held my gaze.

I nodded and then he took a few deep breaths and said quietly, "And I can wait. I mean I've been through hell too. And we don't have to rush things, not even a little.. I just.. You feel something too.. Right? You don't have to answer that" he babbled, swearing a little under his breath as he added, "It was a totally unexpected and unfair question."

"Actually, Jacob, I do. I'm not going to deny it, either. I just.. I wanna take everything slowly, okay? Right now I'm still sort of getting over it all and going through the stages of it, losing him." I admitted, biting my lower lip.

Jacob grinned brightly and then muttered quietly, "I can help you, Liv.. I'm right here. All you have to do is talk to me. I'll listen. And do whatever I can to help you work through it. I kinda lost.. I mean it's not as important, but I know how you feel, sort of."

"Because you went through it when my sister chose to become one of them.. Right?"

"Exactly." Jacob said as we passed a stand selling Funnel cakes and my stomach growled loudly. He laughed and then said aloud, "Food. We need to find food."

"Nachos.. I want loaded nachos." I said as Jacob nodded and smiled, looked at Cheyenne and asked, "Do you want a cheeseburger like last time?"

"Uh huh.. And fries." Cheyenne said as Jacob chuckled and said "So one of my girls wants nachos and the other one apparently thinks she's a little adult and wants a cheeseburger and french fries."

"She can have my cheese fries, man. I don't think riding the Pirate ship was a good idea." Seth admitted as he darted to a garbage can nearby. I grimaced and Leah called out casually, "I told the nimrod. He refused to listen." as she smiled at me and then mouthed covertly, "Well?"

I mouthed back, "Trying." and she nodded, smiled. She seemed content that I was going to actually try to go for what I really wanted a long time ago when I was finally okay enough to take that step forward. I don't think Jacob realizes just how much of a friend Leah considers him to be. She explained it to me once, that they had things in common, that he helped her sort of get through a hard time. And that she tried to help him.. But that he seemed happier than he'd ever been before since I moved to Forks.

It made me happy because he's done a lot to help Cheyenne and I.

"Gross, Seth, damn it, that was my shoe!" Embry grumbled as he gave Seth a dirty look and Seth grumbled then pointed at the Pirate Ship ride and said "If you don't wanna go through this, man.. Stay the hell off that."

"Yeah, that's just not something I intended to ride to begin with." Embry mused as he took a bite of his own burger and then said "But.. Jacob and Liv could."

"Totally."

I gave Quil a dirty look and reminded him "Heights, hello? I have a strong aversion to heights."

"So go on the Ferris Wheel then."

"Still.. Heights."

Jacob chuckled and then said "It's gonna be okay, I'll be with you. I mean if you really even want to ride anything?"

"Actually, I guess the Ferris Wheel wouldn't be too bad. Just no swings. I got on the swings at the fair in Jacksonville one year when Renee, Phil and I went and I threw up all over everyone and everything below. The jerk operating the thing put it at it's max speed because some drunken idiot two swings ahead of me was yelling that the ride was too slow." I admitted as I leaned against Jacob a little, taking my loaded nachos when he held them out and laughing when Cheyenne pulled the bread away from burger and immediately went for the tomato, held it out to Jacob who snapped it up in his mouth. I looked at him and he admitted through a mouth full, "She gets small bites. I help her eat it. It worked last time."

I nodded, laughing as I snapped yet another picture.

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 **Wow. I'm so happy right now, nineteen reviews and 22 favorites, thirty six followers and I was thrilled to see that my story got added to an archive! Aww, you guys, I love you all. Again, I love you all so much! And this chapter, it's got nearly all the pack members in it at some point as per reviewer request. I thought it was cute, hopefully nobody's OOC too badly. I hope you all like it! And moves are going to be made soon, again, I swear. I'm trying to be realistic, I'm pacing myself, I don't want to rush it. Plus, they both have a lot of pain in their pasts, Jake with Bella and her crap and Livvie's loss. It has to come together slowly or it'd bug me, honestly.**


	9. Chapter 9

NINE

(JACOB)

Charlie got called into work earlier, and then not even ten minutes later, so did Livvie. Another intern got sick and they wanted her to fill the guy's spot for the night. We'd been sitting in her living room at the cottage, talking and watching movies with Cheyenne so I sort of surprised myself when I spoke up and said, "Just go. I'll hang out here and watch her until you get in." as I stood and stretched, getting ready to walk Liv out to her car . I picked up Cheyenne and said with a playful smile aimed at Liv, "Tell mom we'll be fine."

"We otay." Cheyenne said as she looked up at her mom and reached out for a hug. Liv took her, hugging her as she laughed and then said "Okay, alright. But you have to be a good girl for Jacob."

Cheyenne nodded and smiled, kissing Liv on the cheek. Liv jotted down phone numbers and gave me this list probably about ten miles long.

"Seriously, I think I've got this." I explained patiently as I shifted Cheyenne from one side of my arms to the other. I walked out to her car with her and for a few minutes we just stood there. Finally, for lack of a better idea, I gave her a hug and said quietly, "Be careful coming back, okay? It's going to be late." as I looked at her, smiled gently.

She looked up at me and nodded then said "And you.. Don't let her give you the eyes and cave in every single time. Trust me. I know how she is with those eyes. I've caved in a few times myself." as she laughed a little and then asked quietly, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"If I didn't, Liv, I wouldn't have offered. Besides... I mean we're sort of.. Well, you know.. And I've got to show you that I can handle everything." I explained as I pulled her against me a little tighter, fluffed her hair a little. She scowled up at me playfully and I shrugged. "See you in a few hours." I said as I reluctantly let go of her.

She'd been about to get into the car but she didn't right then. Instead, she raised up to her tiptoes and pressed her lips to my cheek. I felt this slow burning heat run through my body, it happens a lot when I'm with Liv, and I smiled at her, pressed my forehead to hers as I leaned down, looked into her eyes.

"See you in a few hours. If you get sleepy when Cheyenne finally goes to sleep for the night, you can just go crash in my room. The baby monitor is in there so you'll hear Cheyenne if she wakes up. And the bed isn't entirely uncomfortable."

For a few moments I had to do mental control so I didn't think about what she said in an entirely different light. I'm taking things slowly, I want to enjoy this, every single second of it. I wish she'd moved here when Bella did, actually, I'd have been happier if she'd moved here instead of Bella. And up until a few months ago, I never thought I'd even think that way. It's not so much the imprint as it is me realizing how I felt about Liv when we were younger. I hadn't seen her in so long that all the old feelings sort of got shoved down deep inside of me. Truthfully, I think that my feelings for her back then are a huge part of why I imprinted on her now. And I'm happier than I've been in a really, really long time. I can't wait for everything to fall into place. I wish that Liv would see that sometimes there are deaths you can't get over and sometimes, that's okay. Honestly, I never really got okay with Bella's turning into one of them, but it doesn't bother me as much as it used to before it actually did happen. I had time to sort of get used to the idea.

Liv got no warning that Caleb was going to die. He was there for her and then boom, one day he wasn't. And I can't hate the guy, he loved her and protected her when I wasn't there to.. I actually sort of think that now it's my turn to do the same for him.

I finally got a grip on my self control again and I nodded then said with a shrug, "I slept half the day before I came here. I think I'm good for a while." as I grinned at her and then said "Go, seriously. I've got this. Cheyenne and I are gonna be okay."

Liv nodded and then smiled, said quietly, "Thank you."

"You can thank me, Liv, by being my date for Paul and Rachel's secondary wedding thing. Since Dad pitched a fit for them to redo everything the right way." I said with a lazy grin as I held open her car door for her so she could get into the car.

"I'd like that."

"Cheyenne actually might be needed as one of the flower girls."

"That's sweet! Of course, I'd be happy." Liv said as she smiled and gave me one more kiss on the cheek. Things are moving slowly, but I can tell she's happier than she was when she first came back to Forks to live. And I know that it took a lot to give me the kisses on the cheek.

I'd die to kiss those lips but I'm going to be patient. We have literally our whole lives for that. And I still have to tell her about her being my imprint. First, though, I have to figure out a way to do that. I'm sort of worried that she'll freak out. I just have to hope she won't.

The car made it's way down the long driveway and I watched until I knew it was gone. Cheyenne tugged my sleeve and then said "Swing, Da."

I blinked.. This surge of joy, this feeling washed over me. She'd just called me dad. I nodded and then said with a smile, "Okay, dad will push you in the swing." as I carried her into the house and then out into the backyard.

I looked around the backyard and after seeing nothing but endless flowers everywhere for a while, and a wooden pergola that I recognized from Bella's wedding, I finally saw the tire swing that hung from an old and sturdy tree in the corner of the backyard. I walked over and sat Cheyenne in the swingset, pushing her back and forth as I started to just talk to her about stuff, how I felt about her mom mostly. She giggled and looked up at me, listening to my every word almost.

She'd gotten tired of swinging and it was starting to get dark so I carried her in and looked around, found her something to eat, she laughed when I tried to feed it to her and she took the spoon to feed herself and made a mess all over us both. She clapped her hands together and then held out her spoon to me as she said quietly, "Feed da."

"Thank you, pixie." I said as I took the spoon, took a bite. The canned fruit actually wasn't that bad. The peas though, I had a huge problem with the taste of those. Apparently, so did Cheyenne. I looked at her and said with a smile, "What if dad makes you some soup instead, Pixie? Or grilled cheese.."

"Cheese!"

I chuckled. I thought that's what she'd say. She seems to like pretty much anything with cheese involved, I've noticed. I started making both of us grilled cheese sandwiches and she watched, curious. She laughed when twice I almost burnt two of the sandwiches and fanned her nose, shook her head. I threw the two uneatable sandwiches into the garbage bin and then sat down in front of her, tearing the sandwich carefully into small bites. She nibbled on them and I took a bite of my own sandwich, kept talking to her.

We'd finished eating and I figured that maybe watching Epic would make her sleepy too. It's getting close to the time that Liv normally puts her to sleep. So I put in Epic and we sat there watching it together. I looked down at one point when I'd started to doze off and found out that Cheyenne had already fallen asleep on me. Chuckling, I carried her down the hallway and into her bedroom, tucked her in for the night. And for a little while, I just sat there in the room, thinking.. Mostly picturing things that were going to happen, the stuff I'd gotten a glimpse of when I imprinted on Liv a few months ago. I smiled in the darkness and stood, made my way back down the hall. I felt better sitting in the living room. It was closer to the nursery, if Cheyenne needed me or anything I'd be able to hear her.

She woke up about three hours later and I walked in to get her. To get her back to sleep after a sippy cup of apple juice I sat there and told her things that her mom and I used to do when we were little and she fell asleep again after several times of demanding "More story!"

I think this time we both drifted to sleep on the couch because I woke up to find Liv asleep on the couch leaned against me, a blanket covering both of us and Cheyenne asleep on my chest again.

I smiled in the dark. This felt absolutely perfect.

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 **Wowza! I have 22 reviews, 27 favorites and 39 followers. I also got added to an archive! I'm one thrilled girl right now and I'd like to thank every single person who took the time to review the story so far. It really really encourages me and I love you all for that, so very much. This chapter was told in Jacob's POV, I thought I'd have him babysit Cheyenne for a night, and she calls him Da, so there's his reaction to that as well. HOpefully this all seems realistic and naturally paced, I know a lot of you say it does, I just worry.. I don't want to rush too much. Anyway, that's it! Just sortadad/daughter fluff.**


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